Early Childhood Education in Texas

At TEA, our goal is for all Texas children to enter school with the foundational knowledge and skills to be curious, confident and successful learners. In partnership with families, schools and communities, TEA provides support for effective and aligned early learning opportunities, policies and programs that:

Support a highly skilled early learning workforce

Provide resources that engage and support development of young children

Provide access to high-quality 3 and 4 year-old prekindergarten.

The Office of Early Childhood Education at TEA has responsibility for the department's key early learning investments as determined by the Commissioner of Education and the state legislature.

For more information and resources, click on an icon below.

Kindergarten Readiness

TEA supports high-quality prekindergarten that is developmentally appropriate, multi-sensory and experiential. Young children thrive when provided a learning environment that inspires curiosity, builds confidence and fosters a love of learning.

Children are "ready" for school when families, schools, and communities work together to ensure they enter school with strong foundational knowledge and skills across 5 primary domains of development. Although separate, these domains are interconnected and development in one area reinforces development in the other.

The primary domains of development are:

Health and Wellness

Language and Communication

Emergent Literacy - Reading and Writing

Mathematics - Concepts and Thinking

Physical Development

In order to provide high-quality early childhood education that is focused on the unique needs of each child, student progress monitoring and kindergarten readiness should be measured across multiple domains of development.